Sharing cinematic experiences one movie review at a time…plus, something extra here and there

origins

These past few months I have been loving everything Marvel. I watched all the Cinematic Universe movies, all season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in a few days time and even started watching some old movies inspired by comics (Blade, Daredevil , Elektra). In addition, I also tried reading a few comic books and I have to admit – I did not think I would enjoy them that much.

Because I was done with the Avengers team I decided to move on to the X-men. Although, I have heard a lot of negative comments from comic book readers that these movies did not do justice to the real, colorful X-men from the original material, I wanted to see them for myself.

I started with 2000 X-MEN. That was a super solid film that didn’t slow down at all. It was a promising start to a movie franchise. However, I hated Rogue’s character. For God’s sake, she is a mutant and she couldn’t even defend herself, she was like a huge baby, always crying and whining. Also, I watched this movie 14 years after it came out and I got to say – Hugh Jackman didn’t change a bit. Favorite heroes: Storm and Cyclops. Favorite villain: Mystique. 4.5/5

2003 meant the arrival of one thing – X2: X-MEN united. I really enjoyed the overall movie, but it was a bit to complex and overcrowded with storylines. I mean, we had like 9 plotlines if not more: Iceman’s family problems, Stryker’s plans, Government’s plan, Kurt Wagner’s story (I loved that character – so funny), Wolverine’s past, Pyro’s problem, Rogue and Iceman’s love problem, Jean’s, Wolverine’s and Cyclops’ love triangle and that Cerebro stuff once again. We could have reduced that list by half and it would have made for an amazing movie. One last thing – I loved the fact that Mystique and Magneto may seem like good people/mutants, but truly, they are evil to the bone. Favorite character: Iceman. 4/5

In 2006 came the X-MEN the Last Stand. This movie was a huge disappointment, not because it left a lot of mistakes in an overall storyline (I will talk about it more in a second), but because the story of the movie was not interesting enough. Of course, I enjoyed Jean’s transformation, because she wasn’t an interesting character before. But how can you ‘cure’ Magneto and Mystique (Mutation is not a disease) and kill off Cyclops and Professor X in the same movie? Only thing I enjoyed was Iceman&Kitty. I like that couple much more than I like Iceman&Rogue. 2/5

3 years went by and the first spinoff came out – X-MEN Origins: Wolverine. I don’t have anything much to say about this movie, it was okay. Good acting, weak story. Favorite character: Gambit played by Taylor Kitsch.3/5

And know let’s talk about the movie that messed everything up: X-MEN First class(2011). I would have really enjoyed that story if it weren’t for those mistakes. Nothing added up. It might have worked as a separate movie, but not so much as a prequel to the whole franchise. (You can find a list of mistakes here: http://io9.com/5966264/8-ways-x-men-movie-continuity-is-irretrievably-fucked ) The only thing that I adored about FC was the fact that we got to see the young Xavier. He was pretty wild young adult. I never would have guessed that he would grow into such wise elder. 4/5

In 2013 X-men origins: Wolverine got a sequel – The Wolverine. I liked where the story was set: we finally moved from North America to somewhere else, in this case – to Japan. What is more, I feel really sorry for Wolverine and his fear of flying. However, I would like to see other X-man in a spot line instead of Wolverine. Separate Mystique’s, Storm’s or Cyclops’ movie anyone? Rate 3.5/5

Note: I have written all these small reviews before watching the new X-men movie. Bellow you will find review of it and the overall conclusion of the post.

X-MEN. Days of Future Past. I went to this movie with low expectations despite having heard a lot of nice things about the film. I was surprised as hell. The movie delivered. I actually feel confident enough to say that this is one my favorite movies from now on.

Reasons why I loved DOFP:
1. First of all, it had a huge ensemble cast: both members from the old team (First class) and a new one.
2. The story was unpredictable and for the last hour of the movie I did not know how they were going to fix things because everything was just messed up.
3. I really enjoyed the new character Quicksilver. He was a fun loving mutant who enjoyed using his powers. I cannot wait to see how Marvel will interpret this character in the Avengers 2.
4. Magneto once again was a villain in this movie. Young Magneto played by Michael Fassbender is one of two of my favorite evil characters (Another is Loki). The main reason why I enjoy both these characters so much is the fact that they have some good qualities and they are not just straight up evil.
5. Another character who brought joy to my face was young Xavier played by James McAvoy. We got a chance to connect to this character even more than in the First Class. We got to see him at his lowest point in life and to follow him on his journey to redemption.
6. Peter Dinklage was also amazing as Bolivar Trask. I just adore everything this actor does after falling in love with his performance on Game of Thrones.
7.One of my favorite scenes – young Xavier’s and old Xavier’s conversation.So powerful and so heartbreaking. (“The world needs you to hope”).
8. And finally, the last thing that made this movie so amazing is the fact that they FIXED ALL THE MISTAKES OF THE PREVIOUS MOVIES. As of today, the first 3 movies as well as both Wolverine spin offs never happened. Let me explain. The First Class was set in the 1960s (it still happened), then follows the Days of Future Past in 1973 and that is it. Everything from now on is changed because of the events in the past. I have read some articles that first two movies of the original trilogy might still have happened, but I don’t believe it. They both are set in the 2000s as well as the tragedy of the Last Stand and The Wolverine. Origins movie was set in 1975-1981, so it also didn’t happened.
Rate 5/5 (without a doubt).

All in all, I would like to say just this. Bryan Singer, the director of X-MEN,X2 and Days of Future Past is the only one who knows how to do a great X-MEN movie. Days of Future Past is by far the best movie in the franchise and it got me really pumped for the further sequels. X-MEN Apocalypse is set to be released in 2016 (May 27th). We got a teaser for it in the post-credit scene.